A churchgoing woman in Sutherland Springs lost her life while protecting her grandson during Sunday’s deadly church massacre in the tiny southern Texas town.

News 4 San Antonio reports that Peggy Lynn Warden, 56, died after Devin Kelley opened fire at the congregation in the middle of Sunday services. Warden, who was a volunteer teacher at the church, was there with her 18-year-old grandson, Zachary Poston, and reportedly shielded him from bullets when the gunman shot directly at him with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle.

Warden was hit with the gunfire and died of her injuries.

This is her grandson Zachary Poston, 18. His family shared this photo with us tonight. Zach was shot six times. He just got out of surgery and is stable. pic.twitter.com/XJ7OXyLgjb

“My sister — as someone who would serve and protect — put her body over his when the shooting started,” her brother Jimmy Stevens told the news station.

“And that’s when she got shot.”

Stevens said that despite Zachary’s injuries the young man helped save a little girl’s life, guiding her to hide under a pew while the shooting continued, and then pushing her back with her foot when she tried to crawl out. Although the family has not confirmed the identity of the little girl, they say she survived.

Poston was shot several times, including in the kneecap, and now has a metal rod in his leg after an eight-hour surgery.

His grandmother had been caring for her sick husband until he died this summer, giving any extra time she had to the church where she died.

“It was always her goal to serve and teach children the word of God,” her brother said.

“There was nothing she would have rather done. And she served people basically her whole life.”